Alone in the Dark
by squeeshmee3
Summary: Daryl's life from when he first arrives to ForgetMeNot Valley, with details about his feeling for Flora, and his thoughts on cows, the Mukumuku, and cloning. CHAPTER 5 UP.
1. A Flower in Winter, PT 1

Hey, this is my first fanfiction in a while. This stars my favorite character from Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life, Daryl the Scientist. It takes place 15 years before the game, and is basically my interpretation on everything. Facts are used as they are known.

* * *

**Chapter I: A Flower in****Winter**

**

* * *

**

I stepped along the path that led from Mineral Town, looking around at the scenery of Forget-Me-Not valley.

It was small, and not particularly spectacular, but it was a nice enough place, with a beach within walking distance from any point of the valley. I saw the building I would be renting out; a small one story placed upon a little ridge on a hill. Not ideal, but I could work around it.

As I headed in that direction, I was stopped by a young girl of about 19 or 20. Her blonde hair was strikingly bright, and was held back in a ponytail.

I stared at her without blinking for a minute: a habit of mine since I was young. It tended to scare most people off and leave me to my precious solitude.

She didn't seem to notice.

"Hello! Are you new to Forget-Me-Not valley?" She asked me, and then began talking again without waiting for my answer.

"My name is Vesta. I run this farm right here," she gestured, "with the help of my younger brother." She pointed towards a thin boy of about 11 years old, chopping wood.

"I inherited from my father."

I wondered where she was going with this, but nodded politely.

"Here, I'll give you a tour of the valley." She offered, smiling largely.

* * *

The tour lasted longer than I had hoped. And considering I hadn't wanted the tour at all, I refer to the whole thing.

I had finally managed to grab my bags and run into my building, double bolting the door. I was breathing deeply, savoring the darkness and the privacy. I had spent the majority of my life in the darkness, and had come to associate it with safeness. When I was in the dark, my mother couldn't find me.

I took off my glasses and began polishing them, frustrated in myself for thinking about my mother again. I began to pull things out of the large cardboard boxes and duffel bags I had brought and stacking them on the floorchemicals, beakers, test tubes, a laptop, and my college diploma, which I stuck in the corner.

There wasn't much in the house when I walked injust a table and a beaten down old sofa. I didn't mind, I fell asleep on the couch half the time I was in college, staying up late to finish papers.

After I had unloaded everything I had brought, I sat down on the threadbare couch and stared at the wall without blinking. I don't know how I sat there, unblinking in the darkness.

* * *

I unlocked the door at 10 PM. After a few moments deliberation, I opened the door.

I must have forgotten about the ridge, because as I walked I suddenly just felt air under my foot and went sprawling along the grass.

"Uwaaa!"

My cry was surprisingly loud, and I felt my glasses separate from my face as I toppled over.

"Owwwwwww," I felt around blindly for my glasses. I was off to a bad start already, and I hadn't even blown anything up yet.

"Do you need some help?" A voice to the left of me asked. I stood up shakily.

A blurry figure moved forward and slid my glasses onto my face. For a moment, I saw large, caring eyes, framed by spectacles like my own. It was a girl. Long blonde hair fell down onto her shoulders, and she smiled. My cheeks grew hot.

_She's beautiful. _

"What are you doing out so late?" She asked me.

I couldn't answer. I turned around and ran back into my house, double bolting the door again. I could hear my heart beating in my ears. I sat down against the door, and fell asleep like that.


	2. A Flower in Winter, PT 2

Ah, Chapter 2! I hope all who read chapter 1 enjoyed it! Daryl seems a bit different than in the game, I know, but remember, it's 15 years earlier so he is not quite as…mad. Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter II: A Flower in Winter PT. 2**

* * *

The next day when I got up, it was already 3 PM. I wasn't surprised; my sleeping schedule has always been slightly off. I wandered over to the Blue Bar—which was run my man about my age named Griffin—even though I dislike alcohol.

"Hello," Griffin greeted me. I muttered a response. He went back to mixing drinks and I sat down, and began doodling on a napkin.

I was diagramming an experiment I had been wanting to start even before I went to college, and became deeply immersed I didn't even notice the hulking black man hovering over me.

"Uwaaa!" I fell off my stool.

The man looked at me for a moment, then grabbed a drink Griffin handed him.

"…sorry if I startled you," he said, pulling me up by the collar of my shirt, nearly strangling me.

"…it's not—it's nothing, anyway." I crumpled up the napkin and stuck it in my pocket.

"No, it was good." The man gulped down his drink. "What's your name, anyway?" He asked me. "I haven't seen you in the valley before."

"Uh, Daryl." I mumbled. I regretted coming here already.

"Cody," The man responded. I stumbled toward the door and grasped at the knob.

"Er, well, it was good to meet you, but I have to, I have to go."

* * *

I spent the next hour or two putting a fence around my house, and constructing flower boxes for my plants. And of course, being alone.

When my mind was not busy contemplating new experiments, _her _face appeared. The girl. I wanted to go look for her, or ask someone about who she was, but I am not, I mean I can't…

I had just finished covering the final seed with dirt when I saw her walk by. My knees nearly gave out. She looked over and waved.

I weakly waved back and turned to run into my house, but I couldn't move. She was walking over.

"Hey, you! Where have you been hiding?" She laughed. I was petrified.

"I missed you, when you disappeared last night." I nodded weakly, feeling the doorknob against my back.

"What's your name?" She was inside the fence now, smiling at me.

Amazing as it might seem, I actually forgot my name for a good 30 seconds.

"Uh…D—Daryl."

"My name is Flora." She pointed over past Vesta's farm. "I'm over here visiting with an archaeologist. He's testing the location, and I'm trying to earn college credits."

I nodded again. Archaeology? She didn't strike me as a scholarly type, but it made me like her more.

"Well, it was nice meeting you. Maybe I'll see you around?" She continued, beginning to walk away.

"O-okay."

I stumbled into my house, dizzy, but happy. I worked on the experiment I drew on the napkin all night.

* * *

"Hey, how come you stay inside all day?"

I sat up quickly. Someone was talking to me. I was still on my couch, the beginnings of my new experiment strewn all over my table.

"Hello?"

I nervously walked over to the door. Someone was outside. Talking to me.

"Er…I'm, I'm very busy." I managed to reply, and shuffled papers and clinked beakers to show them how busy I was.

"Whatever." I heard them walk away.

I walked over to the door and unlocked it, careful to open it only a crack.

It was Vesta's younger brother. What was his name? Marvin? I couldn't be bothered to remember.

_How come you stay inside all day?_

Impudent little brat.

* * *

The day passed fairly quickly. When I looked up from diagramming, it was already 11 PM. My stomach was what made me glance at the clock, and I realized I hadn't eaten anything since I arrived.

I ended up running into Flora on my way to the Blue Bar to get dinner.

* * *

_(Ages: Daryl: 21, Carter: 25, Flora: 18, Wally: 22, Chris: 21, Patrick and Kassey: 38, Griffin: 22, Cody: 19, Marlin: 11, Vesta: 20, Celia, Muffy, Rock: 6-7)_

_

* * *

_


	3. The Archaeologist

Yes, it's chapter 3 already (or finally?). I'm trying to crank this story out before I lose interest (such a fate that befell all the other stories I had up here at one point).

* * *

**Chapter III: The Archaeologist**

**

* * *

**

I woke up at 10. Early, for me. I wanted to meet this Mr. Carter Flora kept talking about. I imagined him as a man in about his 50s or 60s, with white hair and small glasses on a chain. In short, the man I had had as my professor during a short archaeology course in college.

What I didn't imagine was to find a sturdy, thick haired (My hair was already starting to fall out, although that may just be because I'm always ripping at it.) man that couldn't have been any older than I. They weren't staying at the Inn right in the middle of the valley, either, they were staying in a quiet little alcove off of Vesta's farm, next to a waterfall. In one tent.

Now, I believe even someone with half of a brain cavity would be forced to admit that a 20-something year old man and an 18 year old woman sharing a roof is asking for trouble.

And I believe that any man with half of a brain cavity would have done or considered doing some of the things I did.

* * *

It all began when I created a minor electrical current inside of their tent. It was meant to be harmless.

Flora's glasses reacted badly to the current and she had to yank them off and fling them out of the tent, then soak her face in the river.

Good thing I was hiding. I wouldn't have wanted Flora thinking I had anything to do with that.

The archaeologist attributed it to magnetism in the air—I suppose I'm lucky he wasn't a science major.

The next thing that happened was I put electrodes in Carter's shoes. This escapade gave me a pleasing display when he was jettisoned from them and wound up with electricity pulsing through his hair for the rest of the day.

I would tinker in my lab for hours and then set whatever trap I had concocted up for that archaeologist. After a while I think he began to suspect it was me, because he dropped heavy hints.

"My, I sure seem to be a target for electric shocks lately! Say, Daryl, aren't you doing research on electricity?"

"….Yes."

"Well, maybe then you'll know what's causing all this!" And then he would laugh.

I hate him.

* * *

I slowly weaned off of setting traps, and would just watch their site for hours. I wanted to make sure nothing indecent was done to Flora. I didn't even realize until my skin began to darken just how often I was out in the sun. It was a bit of a shock to look down at my arm and not see a road-map of blue and red veins coiling up and down it.

Watching Flora and Carter had almost become an obsession. I was always on the lookout for any sort of contact between the two of them, and never saw any aside from dig-related discussions. I didn't give up.

The Flora and Carter investigation was put on a short hiatus, however, once I came along a farm near the Fountain Spring, with cows in the field.


	4. Daryl VS The cows

4th chapter. READ PLEASE OKAY THANKS.

* * *

**Chapter IV: Daryl _VS_ The Cows**

**

* * *

**

My mother got married when she was 20 years old. She had worked on a farm all her life and seemed to be perpetually tired. My dad was always in his lab working. He was extremely anti-social and didn't allow anyone in there, thus leaving my mom to take care of me all day.

When I wasn't perfectly quiet when she was trying to sleep, she would lock me up in the barn with the cattle. I didn't mind this too much, until one day when I was 8, a cow started trying to eat my hair and another one starting licking my arms. I was terrified. When I tried to get away, the second cow bit my arm very hard and I screamed. My father barged into the barn and told me to be quiet, the neighbors would think someone was commiting a murder. I used that opportunity to race out of the barn.

After that, I would always hide in my closet where my mother couldn't find me—I didn't want to set foot in that barn ever again. My dad couldn't even get me to put food in their bins. I would curl up in my closet and have nightmares about cows bursting through the walls and eating me.

* * *

When I was older, I was mostly over my fear of cows, and began graphing out experiments with them as the test subjects. This quickly became an obsession—I became fascinated and constantly was trying to think of more and more ways to torture them. My classmates called me crazy.

In college I was ready to begin my experiments, but all of my former classmates had become farmers, and refused to sell me any cows.

So when I saw a cow out in the field of an empty farm, every other thought flew out of my head.

I turned around and saw a hunched man with thick eyebrows looking at me. I looked back at the cows, and then realized there was a hunched man with thick eyebrows looking at me. I whirled around.

"D-don't sneak up on me!" I cried. He didn't say anything, but stepped into the field and milked the cow.

"D-do you own this farm?" The man shook his head.

"A friend of mine that lives in the city owns it. He has me take care of it when he can't make it. He's mostly busy looking after his 5 year old son Jack." That said, he took the cow into the barn.

I cursed the whole way home, and I never curse.

* * *

I was in a bad mood for a few days—I hadn't wanted to have to think about cows. But now that they were there, I couldn't think of anything else. I paced around the field every day. I think that the hunched man (I still hadn't gotten his name) suspected something, because every time I arrived he would put the cow back inside the barn.

I dreamt often of hooking a cow that resembled Carter to high volt electrodes.


	5. A Meeting of the Minds

Wow. It's been…what, 11 months since the last chapter? I apologize, everyone—I guess I just sort of forgot about this story. Also, I acquired "Another Wonderful Life" and realized a lot of the ages are way off from what they are in this story. So, uh, oops. SORRY, EVERYONE

**

* * *

**

**Chapter V: A Meeting of the Minds**

**

* * *

**

I didn't even realize it had been winter for nearly a month until I stepped outside one afternoon to find snow on the ground. Even more surprising was that, after talking briefly with a strange jogging man named Wally, it had apparently been snowing rather heavily for the past three days. I hadn't been outside in nearly a week.

On impulse, I found myself walking over to the farm near the Fountain Spring, looking for the cows.

They weren't out, although it didn't surprise me much. It didn't make much sense to leave your cow outside in the snow.

I continued past the farm up to the Fountain Spring, looking across the river. Flora was at the bank, washing her hair. Seeing her like this sent a mixture of warmth and dizziness through me, and I felt sweat bead on my forehead despite the cold.

She looked up, saw me, and waved. I ran into a tree.

* * *

By the time I found my glasses again, Flora had crossed the bridge and was coming up the path to where I was. Before I could escape, or even hide, she called my name and walked up to me.

"Hi, Daryl! I haven't seen you in a while!" She said, still in the process of tying her hair back. I grew nervous as I always did when speaking to, but I managed to respond.

"Y-yeah, well…I've been…doing experiments, and such."

Flora smiled. "You do a lot of experiments."

"…Well, being a scientist, I—"

"You should go outside more and get some fresh air! You're practically transparent." She adjusted her glasses. "You should come over and do some digging with Mr. Carter and I when it gets a bit warmer."

"…I-I suppose I could find some time…" I murmured, wondering briefly how I would ever be able to work with Carter for more than two seconds.

She reached out to touch my arm, causing me to start rather violently. She drew her hand back. I considered telling her that it was nothing against her; I just couldn't stand to be touched.

"Well, I look forward to it." She said finally. "See you."

"Y-yes, see you."

She began to turn to leave, then stopped and said something so surprising I almost thought I was hearing things.

"Hey, do you want to get dinner sometime? Like, tomorrow?"

I had to fight every instinct in my body to not run away.

"I, er, well, I suppose I could postpone my research…" I stammered in the most even voice I could manage. Flora looked relieved.

"That's great. We can discuss our different findings in our research. Bring your papers, if you want."

She left, leaving me standing there kneading my hands together and wondering what I had gotten myself into.


End file.
